Sacred Concord

Mbh 6.107.1b

Mahabharata · translated by Kisari Mohan Ganguli

And he felled elephants and car-warriors also with his sharp shafts. And he made that large body of cars resemble a forest of palmyras shorn of their leafy heads. And that mighty armed warrior, that foremost of all wielders of weapons, O king, deprived cars and elephants and steeds of their riders in that conflict. And hearing the twang of his bow-string and the noise of his palms, loud as the roar of the thunder, all the troops trembled, O Bharata. The shafts of thy sire, O bull of Bharata’s race, told on the foe. Indeed, shot from Bhishma’s bow they did not strike the coats of mail only (but pierced them through). And we beheld, O king, many cars destitute of their brave riders dragged over the field of battle, O monarch, by the fleet steeds yoked unto them. Fourteen thousand car-warriors, belonging to the Chedis, the Kasis, and the Karushas, of great celebrity and noble parentage, prepared to lay down their lives, unretreating from the field, and owning excellent standards decked with gold, having met with Bhishma in battle who resembled the Destroyer himself with wide-open mouth, all went to the other world along with their cars, steeds, and elephants. And we beheld there, O king, cars by hundreds and thousands, some with their axles and bottoms broken, and some, O Bharata, with broken wheels. And the earth was strewn with cars broken along with their wooden fences, with the prostrate forms of car-warriors, with shafts, with beautiful but broken coats of mail, with axes, O monarch; with maces and short arrows and sharp shafts, with bottoms of cars, with quivers and broken wheels, O sire, with innumerable bows and scimitars and heads decked with ear-rings; with leathern fences and gloves and overthrown standards, and with bows broken in various parts. And elephants, O king, destitute of riders, and slain horsemen (of the Pandava army), lay dead.
Mbh 6.107.1b · Mahabharata · BHISHMA PARVA

Themes in this passage

WarLeadershipNaturePovertyCourageStrengthWealth

War in other traditions

The same theme, as Christianity, Taoism, Islam and Hellenism address it.

For Israel and the Philistines had put the battle in array, army against army.
1 Samuel 17:21 · Bible · 1 Samuel
A master of the art of war has said, 'I do not dare to be the host (to commence the war); I prefer to be the guest (to act on the defensive). I do not dare to advance an inch; I prefer to retire a foot.' This is called marshalling the ranks where there are no ranks; baring the arms (to fight) where there are no arms to bare; grasping the weapon where there is no weapon to grasp; advancing against the enemy where there is no enemy.
Tao Te Ching 69.1 · Tao Te Ching
Those who believe do battle for the cause of Allah; and those who disbelieve do battle for the cause of idols. So fight the minions of the devil. Lo! the devil's strategy is ever weak.
Quran 4:76 · Quran · Women
He spoke, then rush’d amid the warrior crew, And sent his voice before him as he flew, Loud, as the shout encountering armies yield When twice ten thousand shake the labouring field; Such was the voice, and such the thundering sound Of him whose trident rends the solid ground. Each Argive bosom beats to meet the fight, And grisly war appears a pleasing sight.
Iliad 14.15 · Iliad · 14

See what all six traditions say about war →

Search every tradition at once

Ask a question in your own words and see how six traditions answer it.